In depth and mini reviews of movies with a sprinkling of nostalgia and film music musings.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

Introduction:

James Bond needed a boost.
While audiences seemed to be agreeable to Roger Moore in the role, the first
two films of his tenure were not well regarded. The creative forces behind the
franchise knew something needed to be done, and quickly. It became an all or
nothing gamble. 1977 was going to showcase the biggest James Bond film yet. If
it didn’t work with audiences, than it was time to throw in the towel. But if
it did work… well James Bond would return.

Summary:

British Secret Agent James
Bond (Roger Moore) is put on his most vital case yet. A British submarine
literally vanished. MI6 discovers that someone has figured out a way to track
submarines, and is willing sell the technology to the highest bidder. Bond
makes his way to Cairo, Egypt to find out more. When he gets there he meets the
lovely Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach), a Soviet secret agent who is also in Cairo
to buy the plans for this technology. You see the Russians have lost a sub too.

There is a third party
involved in this, a super-rich eccentric named Karl Stromberg (Curt Jurgens).
He dreams of a world without war and torment: a world completely under the
oceans. To accomplish this, he will use the nuclear submarines to start World
War III, while he sits in his underwater laboratory of Atlantis and watching
the world burn. Of course he can’t have Bond or Anya messing up his plans so he
dispatches his deadly henchman, a hulking brute with metal teeth called Jaws
(Richard Kiel). The hunt is on, as Bond and Anya put together the sinister
plot, battle Jaws among the ruins of Egypt, drive a car that turns into a
submarine and face the villain in not one, but two huge lairs! But things take
a final turn for the worse, when Anya discovers that Bond killed her lover.
Once the mission is over, she will save one bullet – for Bond… James Bond.

If you don’t mind your James
Bond films to be filled to the brim with fun, then you’ll enjoy this film. The
writers finally found the sweet spot, providing Moore with a part he can really
get into. Lots of great stunts, visuals and one of the most iconic henchmen of
the franchise, The Spy who Loved Me is
certainly the best Bond film of the 1970s.

Scores (out
of 5)

Visuals: 5

Sound: 4

Acting: 4

Script: 4

Music: 4

Direction: 5

Entertainment: 5

Total:5

In Depth Review

Bringing a whole new meaning to detante.

One of the most amazing
things about the James Bond franchise is its ability to soldier on, even when
things start to get tough, or audiences seem disinterested, the creative minds
come together and are able to knock one out of the park. The early 70s were
something of a low point in the franchise. The movies seemed smaller, and even
the injection of Roger Moore into the main role didn’t help things. The Man with the Golden Gun had some
the key ingredients, like exotic locales and a villain with potential, but the
final product just didn’t work. It still felt like someone attempting to make a
Bond movie.

One of the largest and most complex sets evermade for a James Bond film.

By the time they decided to
work on The Spy Who Loved Me a few
changes had to be made. Albert Broccoli took over as the sole producer. Guy
Hamilton who had helmed Goldfinger,
but also directed the previous three films was out. Instead Lewis Gilbert was
brought back. He worked on one of the biggest 007 adventures of them all, You Only Live Twice. But one of the
most important elements missing from the previous two films was production
design by Ken Adam. When it comes to the 1960 and 1970s, Bond films, Adam
defined the look for James Bond’s world. His eye for clean lines, immense scope
is unmistakable, and became one of those things that an audience doesn’t even
realize they are missing, until it is gone. Yep, Adam was not around for Live and Let Die or The Man with the Golden Gun.

With these new elements in
place, The Spy Who Loved Me was
ready to roll with an immense budget. For Broccoli, this was the big gamble and
in a lot of ways this would be the turning point for James Bond. If the
character and concept could become a huge hit again, then they knew the
franchise was unstoppable. If it failed here, well, folks would be shaken and
stirred.

Ken Adam's futuristic design is all over this set.

In a lot of way The Spy Who Loved Me takes the familiar
and best loved elements of a James Bond film, gives the whole thing a new coat
of disco-tastic 70s colored paint. The goal is to deliver pure entertainment.
The movie is both looking backward at the legacy and cementing its place in the
present. This may be the main lesson that all the James Bond films learned
afterward.When the movies worked
best, it is when they were able to comment on pop culture and events of the moment,
but still keep the all the “classic” elements you want in a James Bond film.

Ken Adam’s production design
was a perfect example of this. Yes the scope to the film was huge, and set
elements like the enormous cargo bay in the mega-tanker (that fit three
submarines inside it) reminded folks of the volcano base in You Only Live Twice. But Atlantis’
extremely mod design could only have come from the 70s. The interiors of that
laboratory just look like they came from the disco era, but still have that
clean look we associate with 007 mega-villains.

Egypt gets a chance to show off in this film.

The Spy Who Loved Me also keeps the exotic locales as a key highlight of
the film. The pre-credit sequence features snowy thrills. Then we jump into the
heat of Egypt, with lots of footage taken around the pyramids and other famous
ruins. Next it is off to Italy, with some lovely beachside location shooting
and an exciting chase on seaside cliff. It is a great variety of real locations
that gives this film a distinct feel far from the routine location drabness of Diamonds Are Forever or Live and Let Die.

Then you have the visual
effects. Much like You Only Live Twice,
this film is certainly going for more visual wows. So there is actually a lot
of model work, crazy gadgets and rear projection on display. Some of these
models were enormous beasts, like the mega tanker. But the star of the show was
James Bond’s new car. Yep, it was that melding of “classic” and current. Bond
hadn’t had a really cool car chase in years (the one in Diamonds are Forever is really sad, in my opinion). So here, Bond
gets an oh-so 70s Lotus Esprit. This little car is packed with gadgets and
turns into a submarine. How frickin’ cool is that? Finally Moore felt like he
was stepping out of the shadow of Connery in more than just his performance.
Even the surroundings were telling audiences, this is Bond, but this Bond of
today.

Jaws closes in for his final confrontation with007,

Let’s talk about the action.
With the smaller budgets and scope of the previous three films, some of the
action scenes suffered. The Spy Who
Loved Me decided to correct that. The pre-credit sequence makes it very
clear that action and stunts are on the menu for this film. The ski chase
followed by one of the most amazing visual freefall stunts ever put on film. It
makes this easily one of the top ten best pre-credit sequences of the series. It
also whets the appetite for more. Most of the work in Egypt is of the cat and
mouse chase and escape variety. Bond and Anya do their best to complete their
mission with Jaws dogging their every move. It’s a nice switch up, to put this
type of henchman in such a prominent role, and effectively executed too. Then
you get the fun and exciting car chase in Italy. But the whole thing is cranked
up to 11 when Bond leads the captains of three captured submarine crews against
a horde of villains. This huge battle aboard the tanker is filled with stunts,
gunfire, explosions and excitement. It really takes the model of Thunderball’s final battle and places
it on land and gives it a bit more excitement (and is more effective to the
similar battle in You Only Live Twice).
The only misstep is that this is not the finale. Bond still has to face Jaws
and Stromberg in a final test, and these are low key, feeling more like an
epilogue then a climax.

All this action requires a
lot of solid sound effect work. The sound team delivers with one of the most
action packed tracks yet. But things go a bit differently on the music front.
Instead of turning to John Barry, the man who provided James Bond with his
signature sound and who worked on most of the previous 007 films, the producers
turned to a composer with a more modern approach. Marvin Hamlisch took Monty
Norman’s James Bond theme and made it boogie. You heard that right, Disco Bond,
or Bond 77 fits the movie like a
glove. It is a ton of kitschy fun, and certainly told moviegoers that stuffy
old 60s 007 was in the rear view mirror. Hamlisch also composed some solid
action and suspense music, not mention some interesting source music for the
Egyptian scenes.

Bond races to the rescue.

Perhaps his most memorable contribution
to the Bond musical legacy is the song Nobody
Does it Better. This pretty much became Roger Moore’s tag line, and it was
used going forward. The song is adapted wonderfully into the score as the love
theme for Anya and Bond. But it is the opening credit performance by Carly
Simon that everyone remembers. So yeah, Carly Simon, Marvin Hamlisch – it
really doesn’t get much more 70s than that.

The script to The Spy Who Loved Me was really tailor
made for Roger Moore, so it really isn’t a surprise that we get one of Moore’s best
performances in this movie. This is the script where they finally adjusted the
humor and style of Bond to fit Moore. Yes, he still gets in those one-liners,
but he has this smooth charm without the blunt edges of Connery. It is this
element and the dash of dry humor to his reactions to situations that just
clicks. No matter how outlandish the film gets, Moore’s Bond takes it all in
stride. He’s James Bond, he’s pretty much seen it all. Not to say that all the
edge is gone, but it is toned way down. We do see him get a bit grim during the
battle aboard the supertanker as the tide turns against his side. But all in
all, Moore’s Bond is a lover with a dry wit more than a fighter.

Looks like the cold war is freezing over again.

Barbara Bach as Anya Amasova
is a perfect foil/love interest for Bond. The part is one of the best written
ones for a female lead in the Bond film since Domino in Thunderball. She’s got a solid back-story, she’s a capable woman
and she uses her charms to thwart Bond on a number of occasions. He does end up
one step ahead of her most of the time, and she does end up captured in a
skimpy outfit by the end, but hey it is still more progressive a character than
Goodnight from Man with the Golden Gun.
Bach is adequate in the role. She does play some scenes better than others, and
she certainly looks sexy in some of the outfits she wears. But the edge is
missing, and that is something that we’d see portrayed a bit better with Melina
in For Your Eyes Only.

The main villain is the
nefarious Stromberg played by Curt Jurgens. It is actually not a very interesting
part. He is basically Captain Nemo taken to further extremes, but lacking the
dynamic personality. He’s obviously determined and obsessed with creating his
undersea kingdom. But he doesn’t really have much screen time. Jurgens’
performance works well, but he actually pales a bit compared to the similar
character of Drax in the next film Moonraker.

Jaws noire.

No, the villain who steals
the show is Jaws played by Richard Kiel. As much as Oddjob became the henchman
for Connery, Jaws became the henchman for Moore. He’s a great mix of hulking
power, persistence and humor. During the Egyptian portion of the film he is
like a juggernaut of horrors, relentless in his execution of all who come in
contact with the microfilm. Time and again Anya and Bond thwart him, but he
keeps coming back. And each time Kiel survives the latest debacle; he looks
mildly annoyed and dusts himself off. Just another day at the office. This
humor just the right touch for this villain and even though we were rooting for
Bond to win, we were pleased to see Jaws get away.

Naomi makes one fine welcoming committee.

Supporting cast includes all
our London regulars such as Bernard Lee as M, Louis Maxwell as Moneypenny and
Desmond Llewelyn as Q. We are also introduced to Walter Gotell character of
General Gogol, the equivalent of M for the Russian side. Gogol would go on to appear in all the
following James Bond films until his final appearance in The Living Daylights. Robert Brown also shows up as Admiral
Hargreaves, but the actor would take over as the new M starting with Octopussy and ending with Licence to Kill. Not sure if Hargreaves
is the same character, but it is interesting to see him here. Last but
certainly not least is the sexy Caroline Munro as the femme fatale Naomi. She certainly
steams up the screen. It’s a shame they didn’t give her more to do. But I love
that wink she gives Bond as she tries to blow him up from her helicopter.

Stromberg monologues his evil plan.

When it comes to the script,
it is the details that make The Spy Who
Loved Me work so well. Bond is written to suite Moore. Anya is a fresh take
on the Bond Girl trope. Jaws is a fresh take on the unstoppable henchman. There
is a focus on scope and wow factor. But underneath all that, you can see that
the basic story is essentially a rehash of You
Only Live Twice. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that the original
villain for the film was intended to be Bloefeld (after escaping his horribly
cheesy demise at the end of Diamonds Are
Forever we presume). But legal issues prevented this so Stromberg was
created. Still, Bloefeld used a titanic space capsule to swallow up Soviet and
American capsules to start a world wide panic in You Only Live Twice. Same essential story here with the supertanker
swallowing up submarines.

Yeah, the Lotus is one cool car/sub.

Even some of the basic story
beats are the same, with Bond putting together the pieces of the puzzle in
Egypt and Sardinia instead of Japan. The huge finale end battle is pretty much
set up and executed in a similar fashion in both films. But as I mentioned earlier,
I think The Spy Who Loved Me does it
a bit better. There seems to be more tension in the later film. The only other element
that really comes out in this script is that James Bond is essentially a super
man. He can do no wrong, never gets hit, his hair always looks great. It’s
pretty darn ridiculous, but it fits right in with the film. This super-Bond
version of the spy would be the default version for Moore’s Bond, and it is one
of the reasons some fans of the franchise aren’t too keen on his films. The
thrills are diminished as the scope increases. So the script isn’t terribly
original on the surface, and yet all the details molded to fit the 1977 model
of James Bond are worked really well into this plot structure.

Lewis Gilbert injects the
whole movie with a fun spirit and plenty of momentum. Unlike the previous films
helmed by Hamilton, this movie never feels bloated, or over-long. It slows a
bit during the big battle scene, but it is nothing compared to the dreary boat
chase of Live and Let Die or the
dull car chase of Diamonds are Forever.
Gilbert makes sure everything stays fun, humorous and engaging. In so many
ways, he got to remake You Only Live
Twice and improve the whole thing. When you run into fans of Roger Moore’s
take on 007, this is usually the movie that made them fans. It is not hard to
see why.

...and Caroline Munro's bikini went on to a long career in B movies. I met her at a Chiller Theater convention a while back.

Bond and Jaws are both a bit cartoonish -- but that's OK. We expect each Bond, like each Dr. Who, to have a distinct style, and this is the style of Moore Bond movies. If one just accepts it, the films are fun and this is the best of the Moore batch.

As for the music, even in the day I never sang along with Alicia Bridges "I love the nightlife/I got to boogie" on or off the "disco 'round." But in the 70s the sound was unavoidable. I know because I tried hard to avoid it, but even Blondie sucker-punched me with "Heart of Glass." So, it is appropriate for the time.

And by the way Roman, as you know, you really can't say enough about the model work and the miniature work provided by Derek Meddings. Fantastic details to his amazing work. Could easily fall under Good Points.

Never tire of coverage on The Spy Who Loved Me. Yours was excellent.

Also, imagine taking this film and replacing the 70s sounds with something ...well... else. That would be cool to see.

I'd love to see The Spy Who Loved Me on the big screen. What an event when I saw it. I walked away in awe of that film.

Yeah, Meddings always did fine work. Some really great stuff in this movie.

The producers really wanted to get away from John Barry's brassy 60s style, so they went right for the disco. I think it works great. But some of my fellow film score fans HATE this score. For them, if Barry didn't score every single Bond film until his death, well it was just a waste. But I think you could argue that Barry's swinging 60s sound wouldn't quite fit with this film. I think the disco really works for it, and the song is certainly a keeper. A little variety in the music never really hurt the franchise, no matter what my fellow film score fans think.

Yeah every once in a while they will show a classic Bond film in theaters around here. But it is usually reserved for "Goldfinger" or "From Russia with Love". Moore rarely gets a showing. I think the only time I saw it was for "Moonraker" back in 2009. But "Spy Who Loved Me" would be a real treat.

I think my two favorite Bond songs are: Shirley Bassey's Goldfinger, which I think I've got on 45 rpm around here somewhere, and Paul McCartney's Live & Let Die. I maybe overlooking some of the songs, oh, I like Adele's Skyfall song too.

At any rate, I don't know that disco will work too much for me, but it does thumbprint the decade pretty well, so there's that bit of nostalgia. I haven't seen The Spy Who Loved Me, and I've been wanting to watch more Bond so added it to the NF list. I'm sure it's fun.

As long as you know its going to be a light and fluffy adventure, you'll enjoy it. I contemplated doing a top 10 list of best Bond songs, but I'm not sure. Something is holding me back. Maybe the backlash of not loving "Goldfinger". ;)

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About Me

I'm a writer who loves movies, books, video games and music. Wow, that's pretty generic eh? Been a staff writer for DVD Verdict.com and animeondvd.com. I worked at a video store for nearly 10 years. Still working on genre fiction both short and novel length.